12/7/2009 Former MIT Dean Resurfaces, Leaving Scandal Behind

Two and a half years ago, Marilee Jones, the highly regarded dean of admissions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, vanished from public sight when it came to light that nearly three decades earlier, when she was first hired there, she had lied about her academic credentials.

That revelation was a major scandal in academic circles, where Ms. Jones was well known for trying to help students calm down as they competed for admission to the most selective colleges. From the day she resigned, April 26, 2007, Ms. Jones went silent, cutting off contact with most of her colleagues at M.I.T. and in other admissions offices, and not responding to messages.

“I dropped off the grid, on purpose,” she said in a recent interview. “I needed time to reground and heal.”

But now, like many others tainted by scandal (think Martha Stewart), she has begun a second act. After a move to New York, and a divorce from Steven R. Bussolari, of M.I.T.’s Lincoln Laboratory, she has re-emerged with a new consulting business, offering her services both to admissions offices and to parents.

Ms. Jones still will not discuss what happened at M.I.T., or how her lies unraveled. “I’ve put that behind me,” she said.